Posted on Sunday, January 07, 2007 Talkingc0ck.com
Proposed Policy Measures to Help Ex-Scholars Find Second
Careers
by Phoenix Klaw and Kok Kok Kway
With a limited shelf-life, life is not a bed of roses for scholars
and Admin Services officers, who are often forced to retire early
to make room for younger people. In a fit of (rare) pity for these
fallen elite, the Talkingcock Institute of Policy Studies (TIPS)
Director Ridiku Las has published a paper proposing ways that the
civil service can help them settle down to a life of mediocrity in
the real world.
Mr Las paper has identified many reasons former scholars,
especially SAF Scholars and Admin Service officers, are unsuitable
for the private sector when they retire, e.g., SAF scholars are too
used to ordering recruits around; ex-PS and DSs are too used to
everyone accepting their ideas like biblical truth; in spite of the
fact that the Public Service Commission has paid for expensive MBA
degrees for them, civil servants have no idea what companies do to
make money, etc.
More controversial, Mr Las also alleged that these scholars are
promoted quickly and forced out early because the civil service
cant afford their high pay, which is pegged to top private sector
rates. Top admin service performers can become Deputy Secretaries
by 33 and make as much as $20-25k per month.
Explaining his motivation for his paper, Mr Las said - Im very
sorry for these people, you know. They still have expensive car
loans, housing loans and children to send to overseas universities.
Most of them are in their prime of life, not the useless windbag
that their younger colleagues treat them as.
Mr Las proposals include:
- On the job training. During their tenure in the military, SAF
officers should be rotated to spend a year serving tea and coffee,
so that when they retire, at least they can find jobs in the
service sector. Likewise, civil servants should be rotated to work
at local hawker centers.
- Set up a company to give advice to other governments about how to
run their country and ship them overseas. (Editors note: Mr Las is
obviously uninformed, because the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has
already set up such a company, which will no doubt replace GLCs as
a resting ground for former scholars.)
- Create more civil service jobs. The macro environment is getting
more complex, hence we need more senior mandarins to centrally plan
Singapore. For example, we can create a Casino Promotion Agency to
market Singapore as an IR hub. At the same time, we need a Gambling
Control Department to deal with problem gambling. Voila! Two Chief
Executive positions created, plus countless positions for Deputies,
Directors and the like. After creating these new departments, we in
turn need more Coordinating PSs in the PMs Office to coordinate
inter-agency issues that we created in the first place. Voila! More
jobs created. A stroke of brilliance.
Asked what has resulted from his paper, Mr Las (whom we found out
is himself a retired Admin Service scholar) said, Ha? Must show
results ah? I thought it was enough to write a paper.
Head of Civil Service Mr Ho Tum Sum declined to comment on the
issue. We have our own ways of dealing with the issue. he
said.
After reading the paper, taxi driver Mr Wai See Wan said, Aiyah!
Si mi tai chi? If they all not marketable, then admit it, lor. Why
pray pray and pay them private sector salaries? Just lower civil
service pay and dun promote so fast, then youll have money to give
them iron rice bowl for life lor.
if there are no quotas on the number of medical students n law
trainees, etc ... what wud meritocracy be like? ah... education....
